


Where the Sea Meets the Sky (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

by _aph_India_ (bengaltiger7799)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: And his mental health, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Annabeth Chase is doing her best, Comfort, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jason Grace is a Good Friend, Jason Grace is worried for his friends, Nico is internally panicking the whole time, Oh yeah the rest are there too, Past Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Past Child Abuse, Past Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Percy Being an Idiot, Percy Jackson Angst, Percy Jackson is a Mess, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Jason Grace, Protective Nico di Angelo, References to Depression, but not the main focus though, not a lot of romance, seriously
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2020-10-28 00:07:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20769209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bengaltiger7799/pseuds/_aph_India_
Summary: After the defeat of Gaea, Percy Jackson is attending college in New Rome. Jason, meanwhile, is camp-hopping in order to accomplish his goal of constructing cabins for all the minor Greek and Roman gods, with Nico helping.  As life seemingly continues to go on as normal, the calm is hiding a storm that might turn the world as the demigods know it upside down.Revealing secrets going back to the fall of Gaea, and even farther to the defeat of Kronos, life hangs in the balance as the demigods threaten to be overwhelmed by a force as primordial, if not more so, than the Earth herself.Disclaimer; The Percy Jackson series belongs to Rick Riordan(Edit: I wrote the beginning of this story three or four years ago, and this was my first attempt at posting anything on Wattpad back in 2016. Looking back on it, the plot is full of holes and I've kind of run out of motivation to write it. I may still post occasionally on this story, but updates probably won't come regularly or soon. Thank you for everyone who's subscribed, and I'm sorry about the fic.)





	1. Prologue

He was strong. He could do this. He _would_ do this, for the people he'd left behind. Nothing too bad, just a quick trip there and back, and no one on Gaea's side would be any the wiser.

Aleast, that's what Luke Castellan had told himself on the way to the doors of death. Tartarus (being Tartarus and all) didn't really leave much room for thinking, but being a shade had helped quite a bit with the journey. So it was here the Son of Hermes found himself, at the doors of death and staring at the large swarm of monsters pulsating around it. He took a deep breath (even thought he didn't have to breathe), gagged slightly at the smell, and looked once again at the crowd of monsters.

Elysium made one soft, he supposed, as he was no longer used to living in a rush of constant fear and adrenaline and grotesque monsters. Luke took a moment to asses the situation -which really, should have been done as soon as he arrived- and set about making a somewhat flimsy plan of attack. The blond surveyed the crowd for a moment, brows furrowed, seemingly looking for something.

_There._

The thing that had sated his quest was a lone straggler who was desperately trying to make his way back to the group. He wasn't the only one, not by a long shot, but this one had something important. This one had a rather thick cloak covering it from head to foot. He didn't know why this one had a cloak -monsters tended to regenerate with whatever they had been wearing, for whatever reason- but he really couldn't care less. All that mattered was that it could cover him, _and,_ his demigod scent.

Luke could use that.

He quietly snuck up on the cloak-bearer (an empousa, he thought) trying to make his steps as soft as possible. Luke saw the moment that it caught wind of him, and lunged at it as it turned around, claws bared. He winced at the unexpected sting, before noticing that its claws were coated in iron.

Stygian iron.

_Gods damnit._

He slashed downwards with his dagger (the one Ethan had given him before he left Elysium) and thankfully managed to wound the empousa. It shrieked, and it was all Luke could do to quickly dart behind an outcropping of rock. He crouched as the other empousa (wearing a cheerleading outfit, for whatever reason) came and examined her comrade. She shook her head, before smirking.

"I _told_ her not to carry Celestial Bronze on her. Oh well. She'll be back in a few days, anyway." She glanced around suspiciously, before retreating back to the crowd. Luke quickly crept out from behind the rock and stole towards the cloak. He lifted it, gagging at the stench, and noted that true to the other's word, there were indeed celestial bronze weapons in the cloak's inner pocket.

_That's useful._

Luke donned the cloak and tried his best to blend into the crowd of the monsters. He glanced about out of the corners of his eyes, scanning his surroundings. He _really_ didn't like that he was in the middle of a monster horde and couldn't check his blind spot.

"I smell demigod." Luke stumbled, a monster pushing past him as he registered the words. The son of Hermes sped up, trying to reach the contact point between Tartarus and the mortal world. It turned out he was still in earshot of the two monsters, as he was able to hear the continued conversation.

"I killed a couple before I died. Nasty little one snuck up behind me and stabbed me in the back." The monster's tone was uncaring, and Luke felt anger wash over before he calmed himself down. "I'll go back and finish him off. If he stabs me again, I'll just come back again!" The monster and his friend broke out in cough-wracked laughter, and the monsters around them started giving them dirty looks. Luke shuffled forward with the flow of traffic, halting with the rest of the crowd at the foot of the Doors of Death. He looked up for a second, awed by the large, somewhat magnificent portal. Luke felt his hood falling back, and mentally cursed himself for being so careless. He pulled it back up sharply, hoping none of the monsters had seen his hair.

"What's going on over there?" The growl brought the boy's attention to a titan, one that he vaguely remembered from his days as Kronos' second-in-command.

_Hyperion?_

The titan gave a gruff 'hold this' to a scaly, snake-looking thing, gesturing to the elevator button, before walking off to investigate whatever caught his eye. Luke felt curious for a second, before he gave himself a firm mental shake.

_I don't care._

The doors opened again, and Hyperion was nowhere in sight.

_This is my chance. Luke, MOVE!!!_

He restrained the urge to dart in as soon as the doors opened and instead calmly drifted in with the crowd. Luke pulled his foul-smelling cloak tighter around him, further on edge because of the close proximity to other monsters. The lift wasn't completely packed this time, mostly because Hyperion hadn't been there to yell at everyone to get in like he'd observed earlier. Still, Luke's eyes glanced nervously around, the moments seeming to creep by slower than a millenia stuck listening to Mr. D talking about alcohol.

The doors _finally_ opened, and Luke tried his level best not to make a dash for the opening, instead waiting to drift out with the crowd. He was almost out when a figure stalked up to him. A very familiar figure, still in the cheerleader uniform.

"Jen?" The empousa, Kelli by the look of it, said, standing with her hands on her hips. "You're back already? How? You died fifteen minutes ago!" Luke froze, not having accounted for any of the monsters that may recognise his disguise in his quickly thrown-together plan.

"Uh, yeah! Good to see you too, Kelli!" He replied, trying to keep his voice as high as possible. With some luck, the empousa would realise it had better things to do than interrogate a fellow monster. It seemed things were going his way when this 'Kelli' shrugged and turned around. Luke turned back towards the doors, about to step out, when he felt his hood yanked back. He was spun harshly and found himself facing Kelli again, his half-drawn blade clattering to the side.

"Oh look at what we have here. I knew Jen would never get my name right." She grinned, and one of the monsters behind her (the same one from earlier, Luke thought) cracked its knuckles. "I knew I smelled demigod!" Luke, who had been frantically twisting all this time, finally fell out of the cloak and turned before taking a blind leap through the doors.

And then he fell.


	2. Luke; Chapter One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luke finds himself on a giant flying ship. And Percy finds himself staring at a _very_ familiar figure.__
> 
> _  
_Luke only finds himself hoping he won't get stuck in the door.__  


** _Present time; When Percy boards the Argo II_ **

** **

As Percy stepped on board behind his girlfriend Annabeth, the sight that greeted his eyes was not a pleasant one. A curly- haired, grease-stained boy was reloading the ship's ballistae. 

"Leo? What are you doing?" Annabeth's question rang across the silent ship, clearly audible to all in hearing distance. Still the boy continued loading to fire, giving no indication that he'd heard anything. Within the next moment, Leo had raised his hands to fire another round onto Camp Jupiter. With a sickening feeling in forming in the pit of his stomach, Percy did the first thing that popped into his head and leapt toward the mechanic, catching him in a flying tackle and unintentionally knocking him out.

Percy stood back up, thankful that he hadn't accidentally injured the mechanic. Annabeth came to stand beside him, looking down at Leo with concern.

"Wise Girl, what was that?" He asked prompting his girlfriend to look toward him, confusion clouding her stormy grey eyes. 

"I-I don't know. Leo is a very reliable and somewhat rational person. I can't believe that he'd do something like this." Annabeth stated, looking back down at the unconscious demigod. It was at that moment that Frank landed on the ship as a dragon, carrying Hazel, a person who Percy assumed was Piper, and a knocked-out Jason. There was a bleeding gash on the blond boy's forehead, which was probably what had knocked him out.

"He alright?" Percy asked, walking toward the new arrivals.

"Jase's fine. He just got hit in the head with a brick. _Again_." The daughter of Aphrodite took Jason from Frank, looking at the gash in concern, and vanished somewhere belowdecks. 

"Are you alright, Percy?" Hazel asked, coming to examine the son of the sea god. "We are in the air."

"Hazel (I think) is right. You should probably get belowdecks while I try to steer best I can without Leo. We prepared a room for you. It's the third to the left." Annabeth said, shunting her boyfriend down the stairs. He sighed, before taking her advice and walking down the stairs and opening the door to the indicated room. Stopping a minute to take in the decor, although that wasn't really important, Percy turned around and locked the door. 

He turned around and immediately jumped a meter in the air.

"Holy Hestia, what?!" 

Sitting on the well made bed was none other than Luke, spirit form. 

"Hi Perce."

"Great, now I'm hallucinating."

"What?" Both the demigods paused, as if considering what to say next. After several awkward minutes, Percy decided to break the ice.

"Hey, man. How've you been? And also, aren't I technically older than you now?" Luke looked at Percy incredulously for a minute, before bursting out into laughter. The son of the sea god soon followed, getting the first good laugh he'd had in a while. After the two had calmed down, Percy sat down on the bed next to Luke, bringing a serious air back into the atmosphere.

"I'm guessing you have questions." Luke said, somewhat nervously. The expression on Percy's face seemed slightly odd- unnerving, even- from Luke's point of view. He'd never seen the other this serious.

Maybe he was just too caught up in trying to overthrow the gods before. A pang of guilt shot through Luke, and he immediately looked down.

"Hey man, don't think about the Titan War. That's in the past." Luke nodded, looking up at the grinning boy gratefully. 

"Yeah. You're right. Anyway, the reason I'm here is because I have to warn you about something. I've heard stuff in Elysium." The green-eyed boy leaned forward, sensing the conspiratorial air that now surrounded the two of them. "Something bad's coming." Luke took a deep breath, trying to tell Percy what he'd heard.

"Luke? What did you hear?" Percy began, hesitantly, understanding why the other had stopped speaking. His gentle tone helped; Luke felt some of his unease disappearing. 

"Something bad's coming." The son of Hermes repeated, "Gaea plans to kill two of you, a boy and a girl, and use the blood to fully awaken herself."

There was a moment of silence.

"That's messed up."

"Most things in Greek Mythology are."

"Point." Percy turned to face the older boy. "By any chance, would you also happen to know what happened to Leo? Anna didn't, and it's a huge threat to us if we don't get it figured out soon."

While Percy was talking, a golden flash diverted Luke's attention. He realised what it was after a few moments.

Not soon enough, though.

Never soon enough.

"LOOK OUT!" The blond yelled, leaping at Percy to prevent the eidolon from entering.

Luke had forgotten a crucial fact.

The son of Hermes passed right through Percy, a spirit as he was. Reflexes and all, Percy managed to duck in the nick of time.

Luke heaved out a breath as the Eidolon went flying mere centimeters over Percy's head.

"What is it?" Percy asked, voice tinged with confusion and apprehension. He looked around, trying to spot whatever it was that had caused Luke's sudden reaction. 

The split second that Luke took his eyes off the Eidolon to reply was the moment that it decided to try again. 

"There's an-" Luke cut himself off as Percy jolted up, nearly tumbling off the bed in the process. He watched in horror as, within the span of a few seconds, his friend's eyes widened and turned gold. The cruel, un-Percy-like smirk that appeared on the demigod's face shook him out of the horror. Luke decided on a course of action, trying to help Percy wrestle back control from the foreign entity. This time, however, Luke's hands made contact with the other's body, sending him flying. 

_What?!_

Luke looked down at his hands, before glancing at the eidolon, who was dusting himself off, already on his feet. He slowly drew Riptide, and Luke was left to quickly glance around for something he could use as a shield. As the eidolon advanced farther towards him, Luke tried to grab a nearby backpack and use it to protect himself.

Keyword, _tried._

Once again, the blond's hands passed right through the backpack, causing the demigod to groan in frustration.

Luke scrambled backwards, trying to evade Riptide.

With his luck, he'd solidify right when the eidolon decided to strike.

As it was, the blond came to find himself backed up against the wall after only a few steps. Luke cursed under his breath. It didn't take a tactical genius to figure out that the son of Hermes had put himself in a _very_ bad position. Taking a moment to quickly judge the distance between himself and the wall, Luke turned his attention back to Percy. Luke grew more frantic as the eidolon raised the sword, ready to try and eliminate him. Oddly enough, Luke simply smirked as he formulated a split-second plan, a haphazard, dangerous ploy which could, in all honesty, completely and utterly fail. The demigod's sudden change in mood caused the eidolon to falter - why would anyone in Luke's position be _smirking?_ \- and that gave the demigod the opening he needed. Luke threw a nearby picture frame at the eidolon, before darting the other way, towards the door. It scowled, starting to get angry at it's inability to capture the shade.

It screamed, a guttural, raspy, bone-chilling sound. Luke squeezed his eyes shut, trying to relax his tensed muscles. Luke concentrated on himself as a shade, taking up no space and having no mass, simply fading and fading until he was nothing at all, then trying to make it so.

He only had a few seconds. The demigod could _sense_ the blade behind him, the luminescent metal that had claimed the lives of countless monsters and other supernatural forces, about to claim his unless he did something.

So something he did.

_Ready or not, here I go._

Luke held his breath and leaped _through_ the door, hoping that he wouldn't lose his concentration and solidify halfway through.

Being stuck in a door would hurt.

Quickly wrenching his thoughts back to the matter at hand, Luke opened his eyes to find that he was relatively un-split.

He quickly tried to turn as he heard a thump respond against the door.

He'd been hoping that the malicious spirit would have forgotten that it was in a physical body.

Luke tried to back away from the door, relieved that his plan had worked.

Unfortunately, he soon discovered his sleeve was stuck in the door.

It turned out that that was soon the least of his worries, as the eidolon released his hold on Percy and came flying through the door, effectively ripping the sleeve in the process. Free, Luke jumped back and tackled the eidolon, pinning it to the floor. He growled down at it, ready to get some information, when his attention was diverted by a noise off to his left. He looked up to a dark-skinned, messy-haired girl who looked relatively younger than everyone else aboard the _Argo__ II. _She blinked, before continuing to stare at the pair.

"Uh, hi?" Luke ventured, unsure as to how she could see him and how she'd react to him talking.

The girl blinked uncomprehendingly. She swallowed, seeming to find her words again as she started edging towards the end of the hall. She paused, closing her eyes and opening them again.

"Come on, Hazel, this is nothing new." She muttered to herself, barely loud enough for Luke to hear her. Then, she addressed Luke, bringing her volume up.

"I-I'm just going to go." She said, taking bigger steps towards the corner. "I need to go see Frank anyway. C-carry on." This 'Hazel' swiftly turned on her heel and sprinted up the hall and out of Luke's sight.

_Well, that could have gone better._

Luke's attention was brought back to the present when the eidolon attempted to flip him. Thankfully, it simply passed right through him.

_Hah. Who's the unlucky spirit being now?_

_Still me, _Luke realised as the eidolon vanished through the door again, probably to see if he could get Percy back.

Luke smirked.

_Good luck with that._

Taking a deep breath and keeping on high alert, the sandy-haired demigod turned the knob and advanced into the room, looking around cautiously.

All that he found in that room was a _very_ confused Percy sitting on the edge of the blue bedcovers. 

"What just happened? What did I just do?" Percy looked up at Luke in distress.

Ah, so he _did _know what had just happened. Luke could only imagine what Percy's fatal flaw was putting him through at that moment. A glint in Percy's eye caught Luke's attention, and the son of Hermes realised that while the eidolon hadn't been able to gain back full control, it still had some power over Percy. Luke was contemplating whether he should tell Percy what happened, and _how,_ when the green-eyed demigod jolted again. Luke tensed, moving toward the door again. Percy opened his eyes again, and Luke was silently relieved that they weren't solid gold. However, as Percy's clouded eyes cleared, Luke got the feeling that things had just gotten a _lot _more complicated. 

"What just happened? I remember talking to you about Gaea's plans to sacrifice one of us, and-and you were about to tell me _something_, and I can't remember anything after that..." the son of Poseidon trailed off, lost in thought.

Well, that's one way of solving the problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes, Luke and Percy reunite. If you'll notice, the writing quality of this one isn't all that good, but I promise it gets better, so please hang with me. On another note, I will need to start preparing for my board exams soon, so I may not be on here a whole lot.
> 
> Comments, critique, and random nothings are most appreciated!
> 
> Cya!
> 
> -Bengal, signing off


	3. A Storm's Moving in; Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason and Nico arrive at Camp Jupiter to continue overseeing the temple-building, when Jason gets a summon from Reyna and Frank.
> 
> _What could the praetors want from him?___
> 
> _  
_Well, he can only hope to find out.__  


_ **Present time; After defeating Gaea** _

_ _

Jason Grace shot a wave to his companion, Nico Di Angelo, before walking towards the borders of New Rome. Nico was headed to check up on some of the temples on the other side of camp, which left the son of Jupiter to answer Reyna's summons by himself. He sighed, walking up to the statue that stood by the Pomerian Line. 

"Hello, Lord Terminus." 

"Ah, former Praetor Grace. Good to see that _someone's _still following the rules of New Rome." The border god said as Jason came to a stop beside him. " Put your coin in the bin; Julia's off today." Jason complied, and waited for the adjustment order that was sure enough to follow. 

"Oh, and also pluck that blade of grass that's growing right next to your foot and replant it next to that tree." Terminus gestured with his invisible hands, leaving the demigod to use his own intuition to figure out _which _tree the god had meant. 

Needless to say, it took a few tries, but once Terminus was satisfied, Jason set off for a coffee shop which he and Reyna had frequented before the camp switch. 

"Hello, Praetors Ramirez-Arellano and Zhang." Jason sat down, met with the incredulous looks of the other two. He looked back at them, clueless as to why his statement was met with such disbelieving faces. Finally, Reyna smiled and shook her head.

"Jason, I know you're one for regulation, but there's no need to be so formal. You've known me since I was like, six."

"Uh, yeah. And you're practically a role model for over half the kids in this camp, me included. No formalities, bro." 

Jason turned red in embarrassment, and Reyna chuckled.

"A-anyway, why'd you call me?" Jason asked, desperate to change the subject. 

"What, a girl can't ask to see her best friend?" Reyna asked cheekily. It was Jason's turn to shake his head in wonder, while Frank facepalmed. 

"Some people don't ever change." Jason muttered, while Reyna just stuck her tongue out in response. 

Jason was glad that the daughter of Bellona had loosened up a bit. Maybe Frank was rubbing off on her. He, for one, believed that no one should live in a constantly tensed state of mind.

"Seriously though, I just wanted to see how you two were doing with the quest to build a temple for all the minor gods at both camps." 

"We're nowhere near done, but another two temples have been finished at Half-Blood, and Nico's gone to check on the new one that's sprung up here." Jason said, earning a happy smile from Frank and a thoughtful nod from Reyna. 

"It was Lady Hilaritas that you were building this one for right? Who's next?" 

"Yeah, it was Lady Hilaritas, and Nico and I are still deciding on the second one. Nico wants to do Lady Adeona, and I want to do Lady Abundantia." Reyna nodded, and Frank looked at a clock and started.

"Oh no! I'm late! I promised Hazel that I'd help give Hannibal a bath!"

"Go ahead, Frank." He grinned at the both of them, before waving, turning, and leaving.

"Okay, Reyna, now tell me the real reason you summoned me here." Jason leaned forward, and it was suddenly just the two of them again. No rankings, no Roman-Greek gaps, just Jason and Reyna, in the days before all the especially crazy stuff started happening.

Praetorial position aside, this was one of Jason's best friends, and he was going to get to the bottom of whatever was bothering her enough to wait for Frank, her fellow praetor, to leave before discussing.

"I-I don't know what to do, Jase. I haven't seen Percy in a few months, and I'm starting to get a bit worried. I don't see him that much anyways, college and all, but he used to come with Gwen and meet Frank, Hazel, and I atleast a few times a month. You were there a few times." Jason nodded; he knew exactly what Reyna was talking about, but he was slightly surprised when he heard that Percy hadn't been showing up. In the noiret's own words, the little get-togethers were his 'one relief from schoolwork'.

"Is he alright?" Jason finally asked, trying to keep his voice strictly neutral. Reyna was already pretty worried by Percy's disappearance, which kind of made sense. To many of the people he knew, he was a rock, a grounding force when things seemed to be lost. He wasn't the type of person to just up and give everyone the silent treatment with no reasoning whatsoever. 

"That's the thing; we don't know. Gwen said she tried going up to his dorm and knocking, but he wasn't there. We even tried to contact him through_ Iris-message,_ but the connection was instantly cut off both times." Jason's eyes went wide.

Now, that definitely wasn't like Percy.

"Please check on him." 

"Y-yeah." Jason said, still contemplating the meaning of Reyna's words. "Yeah." He said, a determined note making it's way into his voice. 

He'd find out what was bothering Percy.

Nico DiAngelo walked into the café that in New Rome, passing Reyna on her way out. He waved to her, and she shot a smile back at the son of Hades. Walking further in, said blacket saw Jason sitting by himself at a table near the back. From the looks of it, he'd been sitting there for quite a while. A half-eaten croissant sat on the kerchief next to a long-cold tumbler that Nico assumed was filled with coffee. Nico smiled as a devilish thought worked it's way into his head, tempting and mischievous. 

Sneaking up behind Jason, who looked lost in thought, the son of Hades received a few confused looks, before people noticed what he was about to do and started chuckling to themselves. A few gave him a thumbs-up, and the girl standing at the kiosk even gave him a wink. He paused when he was a metre or so away from the son of Jupiter, and lightly tapped his back. Then, channelling as much of the 'death hangs in the air' feeling as he could, he smiled.

"Hello, Grace. It's time to die." He jumped, proving how out of it he currently was, before recognising the voice and turning with a sigh.

"Gods, Nico. I need to put a bell on you!" He smiled sufferingly as the blacket drew up a chair. He smirked in return. 

"Yeah. You were pretty lost in thought. You good?" Jason looked down, cementing Nico's theory that something was clearly different than when the both of them had parted ways. After a few minutes of silence, he decided to switch the topic and come back to it when the blond had gathered his thoughts."Uh, let's go see Percy! It's four-o-clock!" Nico said, pointing to his nonexistent watch. Jason looked up, a bit nervously.

"Uh, well, about that..."

Jason and Nico traded anxious glances as they stood in front of apartment C-18, dormitory seven. Jason took a deep breath before knocking, stepping back to allow the door room to open. The two boys traded glances, settling to wait for a few minutes. Nico, getting slightly impatient, turned to the elder demigod with a scowl. 

"It's been five minutes. I'm checking it out." Nico saw Jason open his mouth to say something; perhaps to suggest knocking again, but the scene blurred, accompanied by the all-too-familiar gut wrenching feeling of shadow traveling, and rearranged into the typical dorm room. Not seeing Percy right off the bat, Nico went to the door and unlocked it, before looking for any other places in the flat his cousin could be in. His eyes soon fell upon a two doorways, right next to eachother. He headed towards one of the doors, before remembering that he'd left Jason outside.

** **

"It's unlocked." Nico called from inside the room, prompting Jason to sigh before twisting the doorknob and walking in. 

"Is he in here?" The blond demigod asked, looking around the room and coming to the same conclusion that his cousin had minutes before. He glanced down at a coffee table near him, looking for a note of sorts-the only thing that greeted his eyes was a sheet of paper, covered in surprisingly neat handwriting, labeled 'today's homework'.

"Nah. Not in the main room, at least. There are two doors over there, though. Each take one?" Jason nodded, before selecting the door on the right to enter. After entering and flipping the light on, Jason realised that he'd stumbled into an [empty] bathroom. 

"Not in here." At the lack of response from his cousin, Jason stepped out into the main room only to see Nico come flying out of the other room and hit the wall, before lying there, stunned. Jason's brow furrowed, before he cautiously approached the still-open doorway, poking his head around the corner discreetly.

The scene that greeted him was not a pretty one; Percy was crouched by the bed, staring at Nico's still-unmoving form. Above him was a swirling, menacing figure, clearly beyond the gods' level if the aura given off was any indicator. Jason was struggling to stay standing from his post beside the door; he didn't know how Percy was still relatively unscathed, being as close to the primordial entity as he was. Finally tearing his eyes away from the crumpled form in the main room (it turned our that Nico had, indeed, passed out on impact. Whatever that shot him out had to be quite powerful), the son of the sea god finally spoke.

"Leave them out of this. They have done nothing to interfere with your plans." Percy's voice was hard, lacking any trace of its usual mirth. Jason had seen this a few times during the Quest of Seven, although he got the feeling that he would never truly get used to witnessing this change in the sea prince. 

"So true, Perseus." The flinch incited by Percy's full name did not go unnoticed by Jason, and said demigod had a feeling that the cloud (yes, it's a cloud now) did not overlook this reaction either. "Unluckily, I cannot say the same for you, sea scum, and they will also have to suffer for what you have done. Although, maybe it would be better to have a few replacement vessels? Or, perhaps, use the Son of Jupiter who is so politely standing by the door instead?" In the instant it took for Percy's sea-green eyes to flash over to Jason, several things went through the blond demigod's head.

_Vessels?_

_Sea scum?!_

_How did he know who I was?_

I brought my attention back to Percy, who was staring, wide-eyed, towards me.

"J-Jase? What are you doing here? What are you a-and Neeks doing here?" Trying to keep his cool (because dear Hades, Percy sounds terrified), Jason shrugged in what he hoped was a casual manner, before walking into the other room. As he approached the entity, he could feel his gait growing more and more unsteady. 

"You missed the café." Jason said, shrugging noncommittally. "Now, you mind explaining?" 

Percy's eyes darted back between the cloud and the demigod, trying to see how whatever being was in his room would react. Jason, luckily, had chosen his words carefully, and the figure simply looked amused, before settling a little bit.

"Oh, yes, please do burden this boy with _your_ insignificant problems. While you are here, struggling to read a basic paragraph, this resourceful child has been making sure that _your_ mistakes on the quest don't get everyone else punished." 

Was it just him, or did the wind speeds in the room suddenly pick up?

Jason felt a spike of horror go through him as he registered what the cloud had said.

With it came the realisation of what the cloud was trying to do.

_Schist. Perce's fatal flaw. The increased presence of the thing._

"Well, I don't know about you, but this problem seems a bit bigger than insignificant! Come on, Perce, you can trust us, just as we can trust you!"

"Yeah! Tell us what it is, and we can help! You were the person who drilled it into me that keeping your thoughts to yourself is not a good idea!" Jason looked over as a second voice joined his own. Nico faced his cousin, a scowl set on his face. 

The cloud suddenly roared in fury, the sudden mood switch giving two of the three demigods present a shock, before Nico was blown out the door with a squeak of surprise. Jason barely managed to catch himself, using his Son of Jupiter powers to his advantage. He glanced back to see if Nico was alright, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw the noiret struggling to his feet. 

"Again?!" He groaned, using the doorframe to pull himself back into the room. "You've got to learn some new tricks." The cloud howled, formerly-stationary objects flying around the room in a really bad tornado imitation.

"I've had enough of you!" 

The winds suddenly quelled, the thing smiling creepily. Jason shivered at the mood swing, trading a glance with Nico.

Then he noticed Nico was starting to _glow._

"Children of all three of my grandsons!" The cloud cackled, not unlike a witch in one of those cringy cartoons everyone loved at some point. "Won't they be annoyed!"

Percy's eyes widened, and Jason _really_ wished he knew what was going on. 

The son of the sea god silently got to his feet, silently, determinedly, somehow going unnoticed by the rejoicing entity. 

"Percy...?" Nico's unfinished question, unguarded, vulnerable, seemed to go unheard by the demigod it was geared towards. Percy's eyes, a deep sea-green colour that seemed to emerge whenever he was about to do something that the others most _definitely_ wouldn't approve of, flicked to the other two demigods in the room, the only indication that he'd heard the request. 

It took a second for Jason and Nico to figure out what Percy was planning on doing.

It took a second too long.

Percy tackled the cloud, and time seemed to slow as the impact occurred. The cloud turned his attention away from Nico and Jason, scowling at the interruption. It grabbed the Minotaur horn from nearby and savagely pierced the noiret's abdomen. Jason found himself pinned to the floor when he tried to assist his cousin, looking over to see Nico furiously thrashing against his own blockade.

_There's no way anyone could survive a wound like that!_

"I was going to get this plan over with quickly, but since you are so adamant on making things difficult, I suppose we'll take the longer route. I'm going to have fun with you, Perseus Jackson."

Then they both disappeared in a flash of blinding light.

Nico's scream ripped through the still, silent air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. How has your past twenty-four-hour period been?
> 
> After the endless wait, it's finally done. The second chapter of the rewrite. I really did not anticipate it taking this long to complete, but I realised that the earlier version was not only pretty poorly written, it made no sense in the storyline. 
> 
> (Rip this is me pretending that this book is actually worthwhile to read)
> 
> Anyway, I'm glad that it's finally out; this marks the end of the rewrite and the start of new chapters of this novel. Thank you for sticking with me through this arduous wait. I promise that I will start to update more often. Criticism and ideas are much appreciated!
> 
> Cya!
> 
> -Bengal, Signing off.


	4. Of Stormy Seas; Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annabeth. 
> 
> _ Enough said. _

"Okay, hold on. You mean to tell me that a giant cloud that was in Percy's room nearly gave Nico a concussion, then _stabbed Percy in the abdomen_, then vanished, with Percy?!" 

Nico, Annabeth, Jason, and Chiron were in the big house's main room, discussing the events that had transpired not an hour previous. Jason was seated beside Nico on the couch, and the Son of Hades felt the other demigod flinch at her accusatory words. Nico knew that Annabeth was probably freaking out internally even more than she was freaking out on the outside. Although they were no longer _together_ together, Percy and Annabeth were still closer than many of the others at the camps- closer to siblings than good friends, to be honest. 

Nico was about to step in, to tell the daughter of Athena that yes, while what she was saying was true, getting angry at them wasn't going to help get them back, especially because they _already felt guilty enough, dear Hera_. 

"Annabeth, it wasn't our fault. There was, quite literally nothing we could do." Nico blinked at his cousin's words, suddenly reminded that this man used to be partially responsible for keeping peace between the cohorts of Camp Jupiter. The blonde girl in question simply sighed and ran her hand through her hair -a habit picked up from Percy, Nico thought- before resuming her pacing.

"I-I know. I'm just..." She trailed off, unable to put her raging emotions into words. Nico could sympathise with her there; he, himself, still was struggling to process this unexpected turn of events.

"Children." Chiron's unusually grave voice cut through the present conversation for the first time since it had started. "We must seek the Oracle's advice on this matter." The old centaur briefly exited the room, and the Son of Hades could barely catch his request for whoever was outside to go and 'retrieve Miss Dare'. Annabeth paused, looking after whoever had gone through the room's window. She stood there for a few minutes, and all was silent, leaving the demigod to his own thoughts.

_What was that? Why was there a giant evil could in Perce's room? What was with the look Percy gave us right before they vanished_?

Nico's head throbbed, reminding its owner that it had met Percy's back drywall twice in the past few hours. Jason sat beside him, probably contemplating his own questions just as the noiret had been.

_Tap, tap, tap tap. Turn. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Turn._

Nico clenched his fists. 

_Tap, tap, tap tap. Turn. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Turn._

Annabeth had started up her pacing again, her steps in time with the pounding of Nico's head. Whatever the Apollo kids had racked up and force-fed him was definitely wearing off. 

_Tap, tap, tap tap. Turn. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Turn._

Nico's head seemed to have been inserted into a hydraulic press; this pressure, he realised, that had been slowly building, unnoticed until now.

_Tap, tap, tap tap. Turn. Tap, tap, tap, tap. Turn._

A ringing seemed to be simultaneously growing in his ears, high pitched and keening, and for a moment Nico wondered if someone had turned a radio on an left it at static.

"Can you stop it with the gods-damned tapping, Annabeth?! And will someone turn off whatever is making that ringing sound?"

Annabeth started, Jason also turning to look at his cousin in surprise. Yet, this went unnoticed, while as the daughter of Athena had stopped pacing in her surprise, the _ringing_ was _still getting louder, and by all the Gods, that was annoying, why wouldn't they just do as he said for once and turn it off?!_

_Ah, forget it!_

Nico rose to go turn off whatever it was, but immediately had to grip the couch to keep from falling; it must have simply been dizziness from getting up too fast, but it certainly didn't help his headache. 

Apollo and Helios must have also decided to personally burn the world, as the light through the window was getting increasingly blinding. 

"Nico...?" Jason approached him carefully, as if approaching a wounded animal.

"What? What is it?!" Nico snapped, because he had a headache and the words made it worse and the light didn't help, and there was_ still the gods-damned ringing, why hadn't someone shut the dam thing off yet?!_

Nico took a step away from the couch because the window wasn't that far away and he could close the thing, immediately regretting it as his head started spinning worse than before. He swiped for the couch in a last attempt to stabilise himself.

His hand swung...and missed. 

As the son of Hades fell to the ground, he could vaguely make out Jason kneeling over him, and Annabeth (when had she gotten here?) yelling for 'Will'.

_Who is this 'Will'? Is he the cause of that ringing? Because if so, I will gladly punch him._

Then the fuzzy picture faded to black.  
  


Nico awoke, feeling, quite frankly, confused. 

For one, he was in the med ward, the only one in his section.

Oh, wait, there was a door opening. 

A camper who Nico recognised after a few moments as Will Solace, head of Apollo, walked in, a smile splitting his face. 

"Are you feeling better? That was a couple of nasty knocks to the head you took." Will started what Nico could only assume was post-unconsciousness procedure, if he'd assumed the reason why he was in the med ward correctly.

"What happened? I remember telling Annabeth to stop her pacing, and then..." Nico cringed, recalling his harsh words to the elder demigod. "Yeah, I should probably apologise to her." The noiret tried to swing his legs off the bed, only to have Will firmly push them back up.

"Well, that's going to have to wait for another day, at least. You're recovering from a concussion, so I don't think you're going anywhere. Jason will probably come by later to visit you." 

Nico scowled and crossed his arms, yet made no motion of trying to get up again. Will smiled in relief. At least this one would listen to medical personnel! 

"Here." The blond gave Nico a smoothie-type thing, which Nico had seen enough times to recognise as Ambrosia. "Finish it, okay?" Nico nodded his understanding, and Will left the room, probably to tell Chiron and the others that he'd woken up. Nico toyed with the idea of leaving the ward just to annoy Will, but figured that he'd know the blond boy's anger if he did so. 

Now all that was left was to wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. Bengal here. First off, I want to thank the people who have stuck with this story, although I'm really busy with work and other things in real life, so I don't really have much time to update. My gratitude goes to you, dear reader! 
> 
> And, okay, so it's still short. It gets longer, if you are willing to believe that.
> 
> It wasn't really clear in the chapter, but Nico's experiencing symptoms of concussion; specifically, severe headache, ringing in ears, sensitivity to light, irritation, a feeling of pressure in the head, and mild confusion at the very end. While I did do research on this, if you have knowledge on this and noticed something wrong, please feel free to correct me.
> 
> Anyway, how has your week been?
> 
> As always, comments, criticism, and other random tidbits are much appreciated!
> 
> Cya!
> 
> -Bengal, signing off.


	5. -Situation Update-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not part of the story. I greatly apologise.

Hello everyone. 

I'll start off by saying that this is more of an author's note than anything. I apologise.

We are in the thick of some very trying times. Everything's uncertain and it feels like the world is falling apart around us. I want to tell everyone to stay strong, stay bold.

Stay safe. 

Things like this have happened before, and just like always, we will bounce back. It might take some time, but everything will be alright. I know saying 'don't panic' does not really help, so I will say this instead - sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better.

And they _will._ Things _will_ get better, because each of us is doing all we can to ensure it. Things will get better. Nothing lasts forever, including things that may seem to be the end of the world.

Secondly, I would like to say thank you.

Thank you to everyone on the front lines -the medics, first responders, shoppe owners, postal and transportation workers, educators, researchers, and cleanliness workers. And everyone else who is on the front lines, continuing to do your duty even in these trying times.

And also to everyone else, who is staying safe, staying home, keeping to quarantine; just by doing that, you make jobs for people on the front line -people like _myself-_ infinitely easier. Thank you to those of you who are making a difference in your communities, by running errands for people at risk, reaching out to someone and letting them know that we are all here together, and that we can do it.

_Every small thing helps._

We can do it, everyone. We can brave this threat. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are almost there. We just have to hold out for a little bit longer.

Sending my best wishes to every one of you around the world.

-Bengal

(I'm sorry that the chapter has not been up. Things have been hectic. It will be up soon, I promise. Stay bold, everyone!)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. This is my first time using AO3, and to be honest, I'm really excited! My colleague introduced this to me, and I can't wait to try it out.
> 
> Comments, criticism, and random nothings are always appreciated!
> 
> -Bengal, signing off
> 
> (By the way, this is cross-posted on Wattpad, and the version there has a few more chapters out. It is only posted on WP, and with the exact same username. If you see it anywhere else, please let me know!)


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